Meet The Team

At Best Behaviour Dog Training we have a highly dedicated team who work with you and your dog in classes, 121s and Behaviour Consultations.

We have built a reputation of excellence over the last 12 years and have a carefully selected team of highly skilled and qualified indivduals. What and how we train has become a unique and multi award winning feature in the region. This has led us on to recruiting even more highly skilled trainers and behaviourists with high ethical standards in teaching and animal welfare as well as a never ending desire to always do better for the humans and dogs we help.

We have the the most dedicated, skilled, passionate trainers who were hand picked from a large number of trainers in the region. At Best Behaviour Dog Training the team eat, sleep, breathe dog training and everything that goes with it. The work that everyone does behind the scenes is truly incredible, this is not a job, it's not a hobby, it's a true vocation.

The team is one of the areas of the business Zoe is most proud of because this allows us to give our dog owners the best help and support. We only have the very best trainers and behaviourists working for us which is why we have established ourselves as Suffolks largest and most effective training school. We wouldn't accept anything less for our clients.

Zoe Willingham Dog Behaviourist - Owner / founder, Chief poo picker, Mentor, Learning & development innovator and everything in between!

I am founder/ owner of Best Behaviour Dog Training and Zoe Willingham Dog Behaviourist, and I started my career with animals when I was 13 years old when I worked at my School Farm at weekends, looking after the farm animals there. My career has spanned working in Veterinary nursing, Veterinary pharmaceuticals, pet nutrition and much more. My drive to become a dog trainer came when I wanted training for my own dog and was horrified of the methods being used.

I retrained as a trainer and then as a behaviourist whilst holding down a full time job, where I was eventually able to start Best Behaviour Dog Training and took the plunge to make it my full time job. I have never looked back since.

I also rescue and rehabilitate dogs and cats which is funded with the proceeds from Best Behaviour Dog Training, at present we have 35 dogs and over 60 cats, 6 rabbits, 4 guinea pigs, 11 birds and a hamster and one eyed tortoise in our care.

My continued driving force is to prevent animals going into rescue or being euthanised just because they haven't been trained. My focus and love for animals is around ensuring dog owners have lifelong support for their dogs.

Emma - Head of training, learning & canine happiness

Emma leads the training team under Zoe ensuring delivery of high quality training to all our dog owners throughout Suffolk and Essex.

Emma is a unqiue and highly skilled behaviourist and trainer, with an abundance of knowledge working with rescue dogs with complex behavioural needs through to young lively puppies that need a good start to life with professional award winning training.

Emma's passion for dogs is clear to see, and dog owners love working with Emma due to her kind supportive, non judgemental nature. Nothing is ever too much trouble for Emma, she really does go above and beyond to ensure everyone is having an excellent training experience. Emma is Zoe's right hand woman when it comes to running classes throughout the region, and between them both you won't find a more experienced talented team to help your dog.

Recommended by Vets, rescues and dog owners you are in the safest of hands with Emma.

Niamh - Trainer, Canine happiness officer, Head of accessible training, BSL, Lip reading and Makaton expert

Niamh is a incredibly talented trainer, who has recently graduated with a degree in dog behaviour. Niamh takes classes, assists in classes and 121 training.

Niamh was born deaf and has taken this and made it her super power. Bringing her amazing passion and talent for dog training together with making training accessible to so many more dog owners Niamh has achieved so much already.

Niamh has a lovely dog called Nora and loves spending time learning new training techniques with Nora.

Lucy - Customer experience and events pro

Lucy helps Best Behaviour with events and special training sessions. Lucy loves meeting people and their dogs and has been a bright light in our team helping us at events and at specialist training sessions. Lucy is really passionate about positive reinforcement training and spends her time with us helping dog owners find the right courses and supporting owners with questions and helping them have great lives with their dogs.

Lucy would always use play growing up to train and bond with my animals, it was when she rescued her 1st cat that she started to throw herself into positive reinforcement properly. Seeing the results she had with her opened her eyes as to what could be achieved with positive training methods.

Lucys superpower is bond building! Trust and communication are the foundations to a great partnership for all those 2 legged, 3 legged and 4 legged! Lucys endless enthusiasm and desire to do more shines through with every person she meets.

Adam - Assistant trainer and client support

Adam is an Assistant Trainer at Best Behaviour Dog Training. Adams involvement with dog training came about in a very unusual way, he was working as a Postman delivering mail and was attacked by a dog whilst carrying out my duties leaving me with PTSD and a fear of dogs.

Adam tried all the usual routes of counselling and therapy and when he found nothing worked, he contacted Zoe to ask if she had any experience helping people who are fearful of dogs. Zoe said she could work with me as she would a dog with a behavioural problem as she was not a human psychologist but had studied human psychology as part of her education. We chatted about it and thought it was worth a go after everything else had failed.

Fast forward three years and within 12 months with Zoe's help Adam was handling and training dogs and soon after found he loved working with dogs so much that I became an Assistant Dog Trainer and has been building on his training and knowledge ever since.